Search for answers (Working Title)
by EpicChowder 619
Summary: (Preview)"Divide them,place doubt into their minds,and any semblance of power they once had will wash away." Now separated,each member of team RWBY must now find something to fight for. We follow Ruby,Weiss,Blake and Yang after the events of Volume 3 on their respective journeys for answers. Each must come to terms with the past and decide their own future.


Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth

NOTE: This is a preview. This is only a segment of this fanfic. Since this is a preview, some content may be changed for the official release. And frankly, this is my first time on here in a looong time so I've forgot how you guys like your fanfics formatted and stuff.

 **Since discovering RWBY, I've always wanted to do a fanfic on it (and I've got a fair few in mind) but this one got me ironically excited(read bellow for irony).**

Beacon; a shining light now consumed by darkness. A school that once created guardians of peace now only serves as a hive for the soulless. Drawn towards fear, anger, hate, these creatures have settled in Beacon Tower and are now extending their influence outward, towards the rest of Vale. The streets; once full of life, now run cold with the roars of darkness and the screams of innocents. This, unfortunately, was the melody that Blake Belladonna now sat through every day and night.

She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to and nothing to fight for. One man had robbed her of all of that in one night, just as he had before. And so she ran. She ran as fast as she could. A skill she was ashamed to admit she was good at. Without anyone or anything, there was nothing that could hurt her any more. The Grimm weren't much of a danger. They spent their time tearing down what were now the ruins of Vale to make way for more of their kind. They weren't exactly subtle so she could sneak away if they got too close.

Tonight was a quiet night. Not impossible, just unusual. Even if there were no Grimm in the streets, there would almost always be some in flight. Maybe it was possible that all the Grimm in Vale had gathered at Beacon? Possibly. For all their strength and numbers, they weren't that bright so an ambush would be unlikely. No. Tonight, Blake was truly alone, the first time she had been since she left her friends behind. This quiet night was soon interrupted as pained shriek echoed through the abandoned city.

She was still injured. Her aura had helped stop the bleeding and had began to close the wound but it was not enough to have it completely heal. She had just found actual bandages from a first aid kit and was attempting to remove what she had been using before when her hand slipped and caught her wound. Her hand soon moved over her mouth to keep her from crying out again. She quickly replaced her bandages, enduring the sharp jabs of pain coming from the left side of her abdomen.

Now that she had treated her wound, she chose to sleep. This moment was probably be the safest she'd be in a while plus, sleeping would keep her mind from wondering. She headed into an old bedroom and moved the dresser in front of the door, just in case and lay down on the bed. After a long day of being on the move, she needed all the rest she could get. She grabbed the covers and pulled them over her as she turned on her right side. She tried to keep her mind blank as she began to drift off. She knew that if she thought about what had happened, for even a second, she wouldn't be able to stop.

* * *

"Blake"

Blake shot up, grabbed Gambol Shroud and aimed at the door in a matter of seconds. The look on her face was that of sheer terror. As she held her breathe, she could feel her hands shaking, her finger repeatedly grazing the trigger. She knew if if she fired, the Grimm would soon be on her. But if it was him, she would take that chance. After staring at the door for what felt like an eternity, she finally breathed in a series of pained gasps. She looked down and saw little splotches of red on the the underside of the covers. She checked her bandages and sure enough, they were almost completely soaked. She dug her fingers into the top of her bandages and pulled. She needed to know how bad it had gotten.

As she pulled back the dressing, she looked past all the blood and saw her wound, wider than before. Instantly, she curled up in agony as a searing pain shot through her from her abdomen.

"All I want is you, Blake". She heard him again, louder than before. The more pain she was in, the clearer and louder his voice became. After taking everything from her, he gave her a gift to make sure she didn't forget it.

All of a sudden, a loud crash came from outside, causing Blake to freeze in fear once more. Had someone found her? She had been careful not to leave a trail behind her but maybe someone had heard her pained screams. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was the wind. Maybe she imagined it. No. She had to see. She needed to know if she was in danger. She slowly made her way to the window, her hands covering her wound as she moved. After surveying the area for a few seconds, the commotion she was looking for soon crashed into view; a lone Creep chasing after a stray cat. The cat was weaving left and right, ducking and jumping over anything that could halt it's pursuers progress. However, this effort was futile as the Creep charged through anything that stood in it's way, not faltering for a second. Witnessing this scene stripped Blake of her fear and filled her with an odd sadness.

 _Why do you hurt?_ She began to drift into her thoughts again. _Does it make you feel good? Does it make you happy?_ These thoughts began to stir up old memories. _Were you always hiding this? This monster?_

* * *

"Never have I seen a Faunus with such... spirit. You say you've attended every rally?" He squatted so they could talk eye to eye.

"Yes sir" she replied confidently.

"Please, you don't have to be so formal. We're all equal here"

"Sorry... sir" He chuckled and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You don't know my name. Do you?"

* * *

 _Were you lying back then? Was there any good in you? Or was there a point where you became corrupted? Where you lost yourself to this... twisted ideal._ Outside, the gap between hunter and hunted was becoming every shorter. This was a race that the cat could not win. While it was built for quick bursts of speed, the Creep had endurance and stamina. It could easily wear down the smaller animal and finish it with ease. The sadness Blake felt was shifting into guilt.

* * *

"Now, tell me about YOUR semblance" he said,reinserting his sword back into it's sheath.

"I... I can... sort of dodge really quick"

"Can you show me?" She took a low, defensive stance before appearing on the other side of the room in a split second.

"I use it in protests if they get...violent. I don't like it when they get violent."

"Impressive, but I think you don't see what I see"

"What do you mean?"

"When you... dodge. You leave behind an... impression. A shadow, only for a few seconds but, if you and me work at it... I'm sure it will be easier for you to aid our cause"

* * *

 _Is that why you taught me? To use me as a weapon in your... crusade? Did you even care about me?_ Her guilt began to swell into anger.

* * *

"You...you didn't need to kill him" she said, still coming to terms with what just happened.

"He was going to kill you" he replied, still full of adrenaline.

"This is only going to incite more hate. We can't keep fighting each other. Not like this" she insisted.

"I...I'm sorry." The tone of his voice changed as did his posture. He seemed to have calmed down enough to think rationality. "I should have just knocked him out, I... When I saw you, saw him, I just saw red. I couldn't stop."

"It's okay" she said in a caring tone while taking his hand. "We can leave now. We can leave."

"No. We need to finish the mission" he said regaining his composure.

* * *

 _No, you cared about me. You made it abundantly clear. In whatever sick, twisted way you saw me, you cared about me. It's my fault._ She stopped. What was that? It... it wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault that he ruined her ideals, her friends, her family, her life. It was his. _You chose to kill innocents. You chose to turn the White Fang into a bunch of thieves and murderers. You chose to ruin my... Me. The first thing you did... was choose me. Before the murders, before this... war on humanity, you chose me. Is... is it my fault?_ She had slipped into self doubt.

Back out on the street, the ongoing chase between predator and prey was nearing it's conclusion. They had already made a single round of the block and the cat was starting to tire. It had run faster than it ever had before, longer than it ever had before but none of it would matter soon, as the Creep was closing the distance between them with every second. As they turned a corner, the cat tried one last trick in an effort to save it's life. Seeing an intact garbage can, it made a split-second decision to jump on top of it, in order to reach an distant window ledge,to at least buy it a few more seconds. In one leap, it barely managed to land on top of the garbage can without knocking it over. It then attempted a second leap but one of it's hind legs gave out before it jumped. The cat fell to the hard pavement, exhausted. It had ran for what felt like hours on end and now it was over. It attempted to stand as the Creep turned the corner.

 _He killed those people, because of me. He hurt my friends... because he wanted me. I'm what's wrong with him. It's my fault he's like this._ As the guilt began to eat away at her, a sterner voice came through. _No! He was always like this. He's a manipulative sociopath. No. A psychopath!_ She was fighting against herself now. _I...I can't accept that..._ she thought. _Why, because you love him!?_ This statement caused Blake to tense up. _No..._ she stuttered. _You fell in love with a sick, twisted murderer! A monster!_ she yelled. _No. S_ he found herself unable is dispute that. _But you're right. He does care about you. Because, somewhere down the line, while he was using you, turning you into a weapon, something happened which even he didn't plan on. He fell in love._

"No...no... no..." she repeated, trailing off. The creep paced slowly towards it's target, roaring every time the cat attempted to stand up, intimidating it to stay put. The creep could finish it's prey off quickly but chose not to in what appeared to be a display of arrogance. "No... no. No!" The creep then stopped, about halfway from it's prey and lifted it's head in the air to roar in triumph, it's victory echoing through the desolate city. Enough to drag Blake out of her mind and back to reality. She felt empty. As if, a part of her that was there before, wasn't now. Her gaze shifted down once again to the scene playing out before her. The creep lowered it's head and immediately burst into a sprint towards the injured animal. At that moment, something started to fill Blake. Whatever she was feeling before, it didn't matter. What was filling her now was anger. No... fury.

"NO!" The creep suddenly stopped, it's head darting up to the source of this scream. From one of the 4th floor windows, it saw and young woman, glaring at it, intensely and screaming. Before it could act, it's view went dark. The small cat mustered some of it's last strength to raise it's head and identify the source of the commotion. It saw a young woman standing menacingly over it's pursuer, a sword leading from her hand through the skull of the creep. The cat saw she was not like most people. It saw what looked like it's own ears sitting on top of this person's head.

After a few seconds of remaining motionless, Blake ripped out Gambol Shroud from the creep's head and kicked it's body to the floor. She then separated Gambol Shroud and let the sheath fall to the floor, holding the katana in a reverse-grip. She dropped to her knees and plunged Gambol Shroud back into the creep, again and again and again, all to the sound of her own screams. As her shadow clone in the window finally began to dissipate, it's screams became quieter and quieter until nothing remained except for a little black bow.

The small cat was soon filled with fear as, what it assumed to be it's savior was now revealed to be another predator. Blake repeatedly stabbed at what had now become a hole in the ground. The force of every strike caused the tears on her face to fly off in separate directions. She repeated this action for a full minute before her fury was quelled by overwhelming sadness. With one last strike, she impaled Gambol Shroud in the ground and rested her forehead atop the hilt.

"I understand now, why you put on the mask."

* * *

 **You may be asking; "Why Blake first?" Well, she isn't my favorite in team RWBY (have a guess who is) but her story, i felt, was easier to write than the others. From what i understand, there was some controversy with Blake at the end of Volume 3. Some people felt her character hadn't grown during the span of the show and leaving Yang and her friends was an "old" Blake thing to do. I wanted to take that and show a transition from the Blake afraid of her past to a new Blake, one willing to fight it. Because, let's face it, Volumes 1-3 are only the first arc, that's why the last episode of Volume 3 is called "End of the Beginning" because that is literally what it is.**

 **Also, i'd like to stress that most of the chapters will be... (Bleak? Dismal?Grim? Grim. Yeah that works) ...Grim. Don't worry. I have plenty of fluffy ships in the docks but this is mainly a serious fic. There will be some moments of humor but only when it calls for it and not just out of place. I feel as though Blake's is the darkest tale out of this story so it's only gonna get lighter from here on out.**

 **As always favorite, follow and review. Thank you and I hope to see you for Chapter 1.**


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